1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal device and an electronic apparatus that is provided with the liquid crystal device and, more particularly, to a liquid crystal device that has a retardation layer formed on an inner surface side of a liquid crystal panel.
2. Related Art
In order to achieve a wide viewing angle of a liquid crystal display device, a liquid crystal display device that drives liquid crystal using an electric field, such as a so-called fringe field switching (hereinafter, referred to as FFS) mode display device or a so-called in-plane switching (hereinafter, IPS) mode display device, has been practically used. In addition, among the above liquid crystal display devices, liquid crystal display devices, in which a plurality of pixels each have a transmissive display area and a reflective display area, have been proposed. Furthermore, in order to eliminate a difference in retardation due to a difference in length of path, along which light travels, between a transmission mode and a reflection mode while minimizing an influence of viewing angle dependency of a retardation film, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-338256 describes that a retardation layer formed of liquid crystal polymer is provided on a surface of the substrate, on which the liquid crystal layer is arranged.
However, because the retardation layer, which is different from a sheet-like retardation film, is formed by applying liquid crystal polymer on a substrate surface, or the like, a wide tapered portion appears at an end portion, and thereby light that exits by being transmitted through the tapered portion is not appropriately modulated. For example, as shown in FIG. 6A, which is a cross-sectional view of an FFS mode liquid crystal display device according to a reference example, and FIG. 6B, which is a plan view of the FFS mode liquid crystal display device, a plurality of pixels 100a each have a transmissive display area loot and a reflective display area 100r. When the reflective display area 100r is set at a substantially center area of each pixel 100a, a retardation layer 27 (area indicated by upward oblique lines in FIG. 6B) is formed on the surface of the opposite substrate 20, adjacent to the liquid crystal layer 50 at the center area of the pixel 100a. As a result, in the retardation layer 27, wide tapered portions 27a appear at both end portions in a direction in which a data line 5a extends. In the tapered portions 27a, because the thickness of the liquid crystal layer is uneven and the phase difference of the retardation layer 27 is not constant, the tapered portions 27a do not contribute to image display and also cause a decrease in contrast.